The City is getting behind the flotation of the Royal Mail as latest quotes from bookmakers in the Square Mile suggest shares in the privatising postal network will soar on their debut. Panmure Gordon became the first City stockbroker to come out with an official view on Royal Mail’s prospects. Its prognosis: depending on the float price the shares could be a raging ‘buy’. “We believe Royal Mail Group represents an excellent investment opportunity,” Gert Zonneveld, a Panmure research analyst, said. “The official indicative share price range of 260p to 330p per share suggests an exceptionally good entry level for investors,” writes The Times.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief and US Treasury have issued stern warnings over “serious” economic consequences of political brinkmanship over America’s debt-ceiling. America risks plunging the global economy into chaos unless Congress stops its political infighting and addresses the “mission-critical” task of raising the debt ceiling, the IMF chief has warned. Washington is due to hit its borrowing limit on October 17th, at which point politicians must raise the limit or face an unprecedented default on US sovereign debt, The Daily Telegraph says.

One of Silicon Valley’s most highly-rated venture capital firms has invested an estimated £50m to £100m to acquire a stake in one of Scotland’s fastest-growing technology companies. Edinburgh-based flight-comparison search engine Skyscanner’s deal with Sequoia Capital values the Scottish firm at about £500m and represents a massive return for its original shareholders. It is thought the US company has bought between 10% and 20% of the equity from existing investors, The Scotsman reports.

Britain’s aviation regulator has infuriated both Heathrow and the airlines with a proposal to freeze landing charges at the UK’s premier airport for the five years to March 2019. Heathrow said the planned regime amounted to the “toughest” the airport had ever faced and would put investment at risk, while its biggest customer, British Airways, hinted that the proposal may leave it with no option but to move some of its planes to cheaper hubs overseas, The Daily Telegraph says.

Twitter set out its plans for a $1bn initial public offering, revealing that revenues tripled in 2012 but that it has never turned a profit during its seven-year history despite transforming global communications. Analysts, existing shareholders and advisers to Twitter have suggested it could be valued at between $12bn and $15bn when it floats, up from $8bn in 2011’s private fundraising. Its revenues, largely derived from advertising, last year totalled $316.9m, the Financial Times reports.